Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c23.1

v1.c23.1

The Buddhist tradition speaks of eight Buddhist Councils, in which the Piṭakas are said to have been recited. The first Council held at Rājagṛha and the second at Vaiśālī are referred to in all the traditions whether in Pāli or Sanskrit; the one that was held by the Mahāsaṅghikas as a supplementary council immediately after the session of the second council may be counted as the third, though it is not done so by the porāṇas. The third in the Pāli tradition is the one held during the reign of Aśoka under the presidentship of Moggaliputta Tissa. This is, however, ignored in the Sanskrit works, according to which, the third was held at Jalandhar or Kashmir during the reign of Kanishka under the presidentship of Vasumitra and the vice-presidentship of the famous poet Aśvaghoṣa. This again is ignored in the Pāli books. If we take into account all the councils as handed down by the different traditions, we have in all five councils. The sixth, seventh and eighth were held in Ceylon during the reigns of Devānampiyatisa, Duṭṭhagāmaṇi and Vaṭṭagāmaṇi respectively and it was in the eighth Council that the Pāli Tipiṭaka that we read today was put into writing.